The Cursed

I have never wanted a magic wand more than I have recently. I know most people would wish a better life for their friends if they could, and if they were given three wishes and told to give one away, they would most likely wave it over the lives of those they love. I am no different, and have one particular family in my daily existence that I consider closer than blood. If I were to list the things that have gone wrong for them in the last 12 months, I have no doubt you would find several on the list that apply to you, but I bet you’d be hard-pressed to claim them all. With everything from major surgery to financial woes to the single most incredible run of bad luck by one human EVER (their son is a magnet for “not-my-fault” stuff), they have been smacked.

The son… good grief. He lives 200 miles to the north, for reference purposes. Just this week, while his mother was having surgery and recuperating from it, he almost broke his ankle skateboarding, had his car damaged during a theft attempt, got lost going to his cousin’s wedding and missed it (she married Dr. Goodnight, an anesthesiologist. Can’t make that stuff up), and had the car towed when he parked for 20 minutes in part of a lot that had been re-zoned but hadn’t been marked yet. The security guard called the tow truck as soon as he got out, rather than yelling to him to move it. Then he lost his registration, and he couldn’t get the thing out of impound without it, leaving his mom and, well, me, to find it at home and fax it. Four days. All of that in 4 days, and that was just his short list. Back that up 6 months and it would fill a notebook. A year would take several, college-lined.

Bring on the holly with the unicorn core.

The one good thing that happened recently was a best-case-scenario with the wife’s surgery. I’d take a daily flat tire rather than have her receive a bad report.

We all need a little help. Some of us, myself at the top o’ the list, need a LOT of help. I’ve often wondered about ancient magic, how God said not to play with it. Thing is, it seemed to WORK. People could cast spells, good or bad, offer remedies and potions, and for the most part, it was used to improve life. I don’t know that for certain, not having lived in medieval England or having rubbed shoulders with the Celts, but I wonder, why the ban? Is it because the source of the power to do those things is inherently evil, and we as mere mortals could only see the good results rather than the underlying motives of the “being” providing it? That the same person who could give a love potion could cast a spell to cover one with warts would seem to prove that theory. Nothing like dichotomy.

Is it that God didn’t want the competition, that we might figure out He’s not as omnipotent as He says He is (no, I don’t have the guts to believe that one)? Or is it simply that we don’t have a clue what we are getting ourselves into most of the time, and He knows our needs best? He would definitely take Curtain Number Three, Bob. We are all adolescents at heart, testing our boundaries. That answer takes away our control, though, doesn’t it? Telling us to do what He says, “Because I said so, and I’m the deity”? I think that’s a major problem for most people: they want to have a say in their own futures, even their post-mortem ones, and Christianity is a full-surrender operation. Whereas I think that fact makes it the best choice, others think that makes it a cheap, easy religion. I guess they should talk to the Guy who died because of it, in order to make it worthy, and get His point of view.

I’m just sayin’.

Yeah, I’m one of those Thomas types. Always gotta ask the questions, I do.

Meanwhile, if anybody runs across anything that’ll cure the “Job Complex,” lemme know. I have just the right candidates for it.